Resonance

Category: Gratitude

  • The Importance of Thanksgiving – by Prophet Andy Obeng-Kwakye

    This is an excerpt from the message of God’s servant Prophet Andy Obeng-Kwakye preached on 1st March, 2026 at 10am GMT. Prophet Andy is the head pastor of GloryMount Nation in Accra, Ghana.

    1. Thanksgiving Brings Deliverance

    You will receive the deliverance of God when you give thanks to God. When you give thanks to God, you will see the deliverance of God. That is the story of Jonah. Jonah 2:9 to 10. As soon as he began to give thanks to God, he got his deliverance from the belly of the fish. The story of Lazarus. When Jesus Christ got to the tomb, the first thing He did was give thanks. He said, “Lord, I thank You that You always hear Me.” John 11:41. Lazarus was caged in the tomb, but by thanksgiving, after that, He declared, “Lazarus, come out,” and he came. Thanksgiving gave him deliverance.

    When you find yourself in an addiction, tell the Lord, I know this thing I am doing is not good, but despite the years that I have done this, You have still kept me. I want to say thank You. And with this thanksgiving, I want You to deliver me from this thing. You will find yourself being delivered from it.

    Paul the Apostle and Silas. Acts 16:25. At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns, and the prisoners were listening to them. They were locked in prison, but at midnight they were praying and singing hymns. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. Thanksgiving will bring you deliverance. When you have pain in your body and it has been there for years, you can tell the Lord, I know the devil planned evil with this pain, but for these years You have kept me. I want to say thank You. Thanksgiving will bring you deliverance.

    2. Thanksgiving Brings Multiplication and Increase

    Thanksgiving to God brings multiplication and increase. Show me a man who knows how to give thanks and I will show you a man who is living a life of abundance. When you have little, give thanks to God for it.

    I shared in an online meeting about a man who went to give thanks for a testimony of 500 naira that somebody gifted him. After that testimony, he had over one million naira. He was cleaning the church and somebody was touched and asked for his account details. The person sent him 500 dollars. He had never received that kind of money before. He was grateful. During testimony time, he went forward and said he wanted to give thanks that somebody blessed him with 500 dollars.

    As he lay on the floor thanking God, the man of God said, the way you are thanking God, I want to add another 500 naira to it. Then another person added 500. Another added 500. At the end of the testimony, he left with over one million. Thanksgiving brings multiplication. Jesus Christ lifted up the bread and blessed it. In other words, He gave thanks, and it multiplied.

    Jeremiah 30:19. “Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish. I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.” After thanksgiving proceeds, He says, I will multiply them. When disappointment happens, tell Him, Lord, it was not easy to receive it, but since we have life, I want to say thank You.

    3. Thanksgiving Brings Complete Restoration

    Thanksgiving brings complete restoration. The leper in Luke 17:15 went back to give thanks. He was healed, but after he went back to give thanks, he was made whole. He received complete restoration. Thanksgiving will bring restoration. The enemy fears the one who has caught the revelation of thanksgiving. Mark a man who knows how to give thanks to God and I will show you a man who is walking in abundance. Our thanksgiving cannot be at the same level because what God has done for one person may be different from what He has done for another.

    Sometimes we start giving thanks because we were told to do so. We do it for three or four days and stop. The Lord asked, when you are working, how many days does it take to receive your salary? Thirty days. You do not receive salary in four days. Can we be consistent for the next thirty days and see if He will not move? Be consistent in thanksgiving.

    When you are a thankful person, you attract God. When you attract God, everything around your life becomes attractive. If God is for you, who can be against you? Your degree of gratitude defines the greatness of your journey. David was someone who gave thanks. The more grateful you are to God, the more colourful your life becomes.

    Show me a man addicted to thanksgiving and I will show you a man whose life is not empty. The more you give thanks to God, the more your tank becomes full. Thanksgiving is not something you do only when you feel like it. It is something you owe God always. As long as you have life, there is something to thank God for.

    A man of God shared a story about a woman who came to give thanks that she was kidnapped and delivered. There was another woman standing by the roadside whom the kidnappers considered taking. They argued about it and decided to leave because time was going. She would get home and say God has done nothing for her, not knowing she had been spared.

    One day, as I walked home, the Lord said, do you remember the last gutter you crossed? You should have fallen into that gutter, but I held your leg. That is why you did not fall. Every day, as long as you have life, give thanks to God. You have no idea what He has kept you from. Thanksgiving will qualify you for favor. The leper who returned was made whole. The child who danced for the king and they killed John the Baptist. She danced, and the king was pleased, and every request she made was fulfilled.

    Let your life be a life of thanksgiving. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.

    Kindly join the GloryMount Nation’s WhatsApp channel here.

  • Parenting 101: 7 Things About Parenthood You Haven’t Noticed

    If you’ve never been a parent before, you think it’s easy to be a parent. Kids are the most expensive entities in the world. The most troublesome, stubbornest little cute pieces of burdens, actually. Yet, parenting is the most rewarding work in the world. No salary, no monetary gain (in fact, the most costly financial decision anyone could make), no guarantee and yet it is what makes all the difference in the world. Here are 7 things about parenthood you haven’t really noticed, even as a parent.

    1. It is the ultimate sacrifice

    There’s nothing in this world that’s going to bring you more joy than bringing someone into this world and watching them grow to become great. This is more than being the one who gave out the money to a brother who won the lottery or the one who supported a friend till they made it to the top. This is pouring out your life and soul and resources into another life. Parenting is the ultimate sacrifice, a different feel of love, and until you’re a parent it will never make sense.

    2. It requires your best life

    If you’re going to be a parent, it’s going to take the most and best part of your life. It will take not less than half of your entire life on average. Therefore, if you fail as a parent, you should know that it’s going to be the biggest regret of your life. This is not to scare you but to give you a certain kind of perspective. A big aspect of your purpose in life is directly tied to parenthood.

    3. It should determine your spouse

    If you’ve been picturing a “happy ever after” with the love of your life, well, don’t forget the kids. In fact, if anyone asked for my opinion concerning who to marry, I’d say choose someone who’d help you raise a happy home. It will be about the two of you for a few years. The rest of the years is mainly about the kids. Many rich successful people at the end of the road usually say that they wished they had spent more time with their family.

    4. It’s a lot more complex than you think

    Many say to themselves, “I’m awesome. I came out just fine. I’m going to raise my kids just like how I was raised. Except that I’m not gonna do these 5 mistakes my parents did and then my kids are gonna come out much better than I did”. No, it doesn’t work like that. It’s like saying you’ve been watching videos on heart surgery and you were smart enough to notice about 5 mistakes the surgeon did. Therefore, you can perform heart surgery. It just doesn’t work that way. In fact, parenting is much more complex than heart surgery. There is no fixed way of going about things. That’s the nature of relationships.

    5. Knowledge cannot be compared with experience

    Though you’ve been around and have been helping your parents in their parenting, you probably didn’t notice how they really make it work. You may think you can dance when you’re watching a dancing tutorial till it’s actually time to dance. That’s what I want you to understand. It only looks easy because they did over and over, but doing it over and over is the hard part. A lot of trial and error has gone into it. Parenting ain’t easy. If you think life is hard, try being responsible for another life.

    6. There is no perfect parent

    So appreciate your parents now that they are alive and be proud of them. Don’t hold that “entitlement attitude”; you’re-my-parent-so-you’re-supposed-to, I-didn’t-ask-you-to-give-birth-to-me bullshit. Parenting is not like running a business or having administrative duties, it’s a lot more complex than that so don’t make it too hard for them. They are doing their very best. Don’t wait till it’s your turn to be a parent to really realize this. Of course, they are not always right. So are you. Not always being right is completely normal. No need to make a big deal out of it and use it against them.

    7. It has a ripple effect

    As human beings, we usually replicate what we have been exposed to. Your parents are raising you in many ways like how their parents raised them. Funny enough, you are going to raise your kids surprisingly in many little ways like how you were raised. We don’t know any better. I’m not talking about what we know. I’m talking about what we’ve experienced. So if you want to raise your kids in a much more excellent way, be intentional about it and start now.

    It’s a good person that becomes a good parent. It starts by being a good child. So I edge you to break any generational curses and pass on the generational blessings. If you want to be appreciated as a parent, appreciate your parents. Let them know they have done well.

    I love you ❤️

  • Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude throughout the Vicissitudes of Livelihood

    Take time daily to reflect on how much you have. It may not be all that you want but it is all you have. All you have is not all you want but it is always all you need. Do you have a heart, a mind, a soul, life or a moment? Then you have all you need. All what life has to offer emanates from these. “Cultivating an attitude of gratitude begins with counting your blessings”. In simpler terms, gratitude is expressing thanks for gifts we receive.

    An attitude of gratitude means making it a habit to express thankfulness and appreciation in all parts of your life, on a continual basis, for both the big and not-so-big things alike. “If you appreciate what you have, you make room for more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.” Truth is, there is no neutral ground between ungratefulness and gratitude. You’re either grateful or you’re not. If your words doesn’t say it, your actions will.

    If the gratitude process is hard to get started, begin by asking yourself, “What could I be grateful for?”, and see if the ideas start to flow. Every day won’t be perfect, but focusing on what we are grateful for tends to wash away feelings of regret and negativity. Gratitude is about feeling and expressing appreciation: for all we’ve received, all that we have (however little it may be), and for all that has not befallen us. It functions as an antidote for attachment to what we want but don’t have and aversion to what we have but don’t want. It is the expression of love that takes away the bitterness and hopelessness.

    Gratitude changes perspective—it can sweep away most of the petty, day-to-day annoyances on which we focus so much of our attention—the “small stuff” situations that bring up feelings of impatience, intolerance, negative judgment, indignation, anger, or resentment. Gratitude is a vehicle to diffuse self-pity and self-centeredness, increase feelings of well-being, and prompt mindful awareness of that which is beyond oneself—of belonging to a greater whole, and of connection to others, as well as to the world.

    Gratitude

    It’s valuable to be aware that nearly all experiences have both “positive” and “negative” aspects. Circumstances that are brutally physically and/or emotionally painful often contain considerable psycho-spiritual blessings in the forms of learning, growth, and healing. That is not to say that it is good you went through that hard time. All I’m saying is, even something good can come out of something bad.

    Sometimes we have to work harder to locate the positive and unearth its gifts (and sometimes these become manifest only in retrospect)—but if we make the time and invest the energy to look closely and search consciously, we will find them. There is always something to be grateful for, no matter how negative or desperate things may seem.

    Gratitude

    If only you took your eyes off other people’s journey and sat down to appreciate your own journey. All things work together for the good. However, never forget this; it is those you are truly grateful in the hard times who really reap the full potential of fruitfulness when the storm is over. The storm will definitely be over, but your gratitude should never be.

    Just as ungratefulness gives us a bad time even during our good days, so does gratitude give us a good heart and a good mind as we face the vicissitudes of life.

    I love you ❤️

  • Self-Happiness

    Self-Happiness

    So I have coined a new good “self-” word. I hope it gets recognized soon. It is one thing we often lose sight of. Someway somehow, every “self-” word kind of make us feel self-centered when in fact, it’s the direct opposite. So we go all around happy-ing others while feeling dirty and bedridden in our inner self. We lack self-motivation, self-control, self-love, self-knowledge, self-care and self-identity but are somehow we still feel selfish and seek self-gratification the more. So how do we self-discover and be more self-aware without being so self-absorbed and self-righteous?

    We are to follow our own inner guidance and inner intuition. Because we existed before we were born. Therefore the intuitive part of us is much more older and experienced than our brain. We are here to become aware of LOVE within us and to express it. This divine Love – that is in all of us – is our true strength and power; our connection with divinity. But whenever we feel low in energy, we usually crave and draw the self-satisfying energy from the outside world; from other people, social media, drugs, porn, work, sometimes even food. What we are really looking for is LOVE.

    But if we rely too much on the strength, guidance or LOVE from other human beings, then we are not learning the most profound lesson of life – that we don’t need LOVE because we are LOVE. We are all one with God. Byron Katie once said, “If I had a prayer, it would be this: God spare me from the desire for love, approval or appreciation. Amen.”

    We have to learn total self-acceptance and self-approval, and to become secure with ourselves. Totally free of the need to be loved and approved and appreciated by other people. In other words, we firstly have to be happy with ourselves. If we crave for another partner to love us and to give our life a purpose, we put a terrible burden on that partner. Part of the reason why we are here on earth is to discover this inner jewelry, this divine LOVE within us. It is a quest of self-discovery. No one can discover you more than you.

    Once we have discovered – and we still continue to discover more of – this divine LOVE within us, we gradually see everything in a new way. “Old things have passed away. Behold! All things have become new.” Only with the eyes and heart of LOVE. Instead of looking for our so-called one and only “soulmate”, we would come to the understanding on a much deeper level that in actuality, everybody around us is, in truth, also our soulmate. Because there is no separation in actual existence. We are all one, literally. There is only one of us.

    Do you – you reading this – realise that life on earth is short, and if you spend all your time waiting on a job, or career, or soulmate, you waste a perfectly good chance to be happy? Do you now make a vow that you will not wait for anything outside of yourself to change before you choose to be happy? Say with surety within you; ” I do”. Now go and start living a self-happy life.

    I love you ❤

  • How to be Grateful Without Being Such a Dick About It

    “Lord, I thank you that I am still alive. Many people died last year but I’m still breathing. Thank you that I am not sick. Some are at the emergency hospital with their legs in the air. I’m not a human being more than they are but you have shown me mercy”. Is this how to be grateful?

    If you don’t have a problem with the prayer above, it’s simply because you heard it many times. Our brains can believe something based on how frequently we hear it. That is why it’s important to step back and question whether we’ve been doing it right all along or we are stuck in a wrong status quo.

    Don’t thank God by comparing yourself to someone else. Thank God by comparing your current situation to the previous times. There is one funny thing about comparing ourselves to others because they died and we didn’t. Some dead people may also be rightly thanking God for taking His breath from their lungs. Imagine being so old and having every joint in your body ache 24/7. After dying, you are now as young as a flower at the beginning of spring.

    Yet, someone on earth thinks they are in a better situation than yours because you’re dead. Meanwhile that someone on earth has to pay school fees for his 4 kids, work 6 times a week on 2 different jobs and make time for his wife. What’s my point? The person you’re comparing yourself to in your attempt to be grateful may even be in a better situation than you are. This leads me to be the 2nd point.

    how to be grateful
    You think God is good to you because you think you are better than them. Truth is, they are more and truly grateful than you are.

    The point about comparison is that you’ll always look for and find someone in a worse situation than yours. One of the easiest ways to be stagnant in life is to compare yourself to someone lower than you. No, it doesn’t make you grateful. It makes you proud. Imagine if all males thank God that He didn’t make them females. It’s an insult to those God made as females. Can’t you simply thank God without making someone else feel less of a person? The prayer in the very first paragraph is no different from this Pharisee in Luke 18:11;

    The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ What did you notice? It was a prayer of thanksgiving. What again did you notice? Though a prayer of thanksgiving, the prayer was more about how he was better than someone else.

    You are not better than someone else just because you’re a Christian. Sorry to burst your bubble. Our prayer gives the insinuation that God gives His special grace to a special group of people. It sounds nice when you see yourself as a part. The day you’ll hate it is when you end up in the emergency hospital with your leg in the air as described in the first paragraph. Funny enough, since we keep finding someone in a worse situation than ours, we think we are privileged.

    You would find some people at Golgotha thanking God that they are still alive and did not die like Jesus did on the cross, shamefully hanging totally naked and dying non-peacefully. You would have found some people for sure. They don’t even want to know God’s bigger picture. All they are concerned about is how special they are. The Bible states clearly that God shows no partiality (Romans 2:11, Acts 10:34). In fact, Jesus taught us to be good to all people like the Father is, for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

    Find a better way to be grateful and stop arguing. Are you saying if you were the only living thing in the universe you wouldn’t have a way to be grateful? If this post rid of all your approaches to be grateful, then it’s time to search the Scriptures for prayers of thanksgiving. Don’t thank God that others are dead. Thank God you’re alive. Don’t thank God others are sick. Thank God you are in good health.

    If someone’s worse condition is what makes you appreciate your life, you’ll hate to see them having a better life than you are

    God doesn’t need any comparisons to know how much He has done for you as compared to “less privileged” people. If you want to compare, compare your current situation to how it used to be. Gratitude flows from a source. Make sure that the source is contentment and not selfish comparison.

    I love you ❤️